The present disclosure generally relates to a method and an apparatus for adjusting a vehicle door when installing the vehicle door on a vehicle.
During vehicle assembly, vehicle doors are mounted on a vehicle body and positioned to fit properly within corresponding openings in the vehicle body. Preferably, the vehicle doors are positioned to provide flushness with respect to the vehicle body and adjacent doors, and provide uniform gap spacing between the vehicle doors and an adjacent vehicle frame. Typically, door position adjustments are made by bluntly striking door hinges, thereby moving the door in an upper, lower, forward or reward direction. After each adjustment, the door gaps are measured at several locations with the vehicle door in each of an open and closed position to ensure uniform spacing around the vehicle door and the vehicle frame. Additionally, vehicle bodylines and door flushness are visually assessed. These steps are reiterated for each door until a proper fit is achieved.
A drawback of this door adjustment process is that it is time-consuming and imprecise since calibrated adjustments cannot be made by striking the door hinges. Additionally, each strike can cause stress, drop and rise to the door. Furthermore, since adequate clearance is needed to strike the hinges, each door as well as a fender, must be installed separately and subsequently adjusted in relation to each other. Accordingly, the present door adjustment process does not allow the vehicle doors and/or the fender to be precisely positioned and aligned on the vehicle body simultaneously without causing unnecessary stress to the vehicle body and the vehicle doors.